Iran's Telecoms Free From Y2K Bug, Minister Says

Updated 1:38 AM ET December 12, 1999

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Iran's post and telecommunication minister has said that the country's telecommunications system would not face hitches caused by the millennium computer bug, despite earlier warnings of possible disruptions.

"At the start of the third millennium, the country's telecommunications system will not face any problems," state television quoted the minister, Mohammad Reza Aref, as saying late on Saturday.

He said his ministry had formed a committee in 1998 to investigate the matter, and that possible problems would be simulated so they could be resolved before 2000.

"Where necessary, amendments have been made to the country's communications system," he said.

The head of Iran's Y2K compliance program, Mohammad Sepehri-Rad, warned the public that there could be disruptions to certain services including power, communications and water.

He said on December 2 that the chance of disruptions to computer systems at the start of 2000, when computers which read the last two digits of the year could mistake 2000 for 1900, were "far from zero," but said contingency plans were in place.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 12, 1999